Privacy and the database state in the news

Airbus to sue over US National Security Agency Spying

The BBC News website reports that Airbus says it will file a criminal complaint over allegations that German intelligence helped the US carry out industrial espionage on the company.

German media reports suggest that the country’s spy agency BND collected data on European firms at the behest of the US National Security Agency. Airbus said it had asked for more information from the German government and said in a statement:

“We are aware that large companies in the sector, like ours, are targets of espionage,” …… “However, in this case we are alarmed because there is concrete suspicion.”

Airbus was named by the German press as one of the firms that was targeted by the spying operation. It is believed that BND eavesdropped on online, phone and other communications in order to gather information.